In Show 082 – Find Your Why With Peter Docker originally broadcast on Facebook Live on Wednesday 18 April 2018 we explore this interesting topic.
You can download the Worksheet for today’s episode here: 082 – Worksheet
Show Notes
Today on BLL we’re excited to welcome Peter Docker onto the program. Peter is a speaker, teacher and author of the book Find Your Why: A practical guide for discovering purpose for you and your team. Peter says he exists to help people find the real purpose in their working lives so they can do extraordinary things. Peter says your why is not created, it’s discovered. That’s what makes it authentic and real.
Discovering your own why is an act of leadership, Peter says. You have to be vulnerable and dig deep inside to help you discover your purpose. Once a leader establishes their why they need to turn to a group why. What is it that makes your organization different or unique? What’s the higher purpose? Being able to put that purpose into a single sentence makes it actionable. It will affect every part of the business. It will help you to hire people who believe what you believe and to actually stand for something.
Peter served for 25 years in the Royal Air Force. He drew on that experience when developing his concept of a nested why. As the commanding officer of a squadron stationed overseas. The Air Force is nested inside the larger armed forces which consists of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Air Force is then made up of individual squadrons. Each is different in character. This can be applied to business as well. A large company can have an overarching why but each division can have a slightly different why. That allows each part of the organization to better express it’s personality.
A why is just a tool. You have to use it to build something. Having a why without using it is pointless. Your why should infuse every part of the business. Everything you say and everything you do either adds or subtracts from your why. It will either add or take away from the trust your organization engenders.
When Peter first entered the Air Force he couldn’t fly. The Air Force then spent the next 12 months of basic officer training to figure out if Peter would be a good fit. Contrast that with business. Companies hire people based on their experience and skills and then hope that they will fit in. If you speak your why out loud you will attract people that will be a good fit. Your why will bring people together with common beliefs.
Change is the new normal in business but Peter believes a companies why can be a constant. Rolls Royce’s why is to attempt to create a perfect automobile. Despite being a century old their why never changes. That can be the same for your business too. Your why will be different but it will be your North Star.
Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk can be found here: Youtube
More about this Show
We started Business Legal Lifecycle to create a simple way for you to understand complex legal terms. Most importantly we want to help you to develop a plan to take your business successfully into the future. There’s a startling statistic the underscores the importance of developing a solid plan. The majority of business owners are just seven months away from losing everything. A single aspect of your business that is not set-up correctly can shut down your whole operation very quickly. Legal advice is not cheap and even when you can afford it there is often a divide between lawyers and their clients. We want to close that gap once and for all. We want to put legal knowledge and tools into your hand to prevent the worst from happening to you.
Twice a week we are going to deliver those tools right to your home or office with Business Legal Lifecycle TV. We’ll start the week with Fast Fix Monday, a short 5-10 minute video that will tackle a single issue that businesses have to deal with. Then on Wednesday’s our main show will feature with more fulsome discussions and interviews all delivered in a straightforward and easy to understand format.
